How to use the RecordsEntries are made in the register in chronological order by the date of registration of the mining company. If the volume contains a listing of all registered companies (usually located within the front cover), use this to establish the relevant page number.

Function / ContentThis series constitutes the Register of Companies maintained at local Courts of Mines between the years 1855 and 1871. The commencement date range between courts will vary according to when the first company was registered.

Starting with the Act for the Better Regulation of Mining Companies 1855 (No. 42), mining partnerships/companies (the terms appear to have been used interchangeably) were required to register at the Court of Mines nearest to their place of operation and to publish documentation in a local newspaper and the Government Gazette. This was done by the deposit of a notice of the formation of the company together with a copy of the rules of the company subscribed by each member with the clerk of the local Court of Mines. An amendment Act in 1858 (No. 55) changed these requirements by requiring deposit of a signed memorial in a specified form as well as a duplicate of the instrument of association. These provisions were continued by the Mining Companies Limited Liability Act 1864 (No. 228). Under this legislation, the clerk was required to maintain the deposited documents for public inspection.

The Register appears to have functioned as an index to the deposited documents as well as providing a summary of each registered company. Information recorded includes the local Court of Mines company registration number, date of registration, names of the company and its manager, location of the company and its mining operations, details about the publication of documents in local newspapers/Government Gazette, detail about the company's available capital and its shareholders.

The requirements of the 1864 Act were repealed by Section 6 of the Mining Companies Act 1871and subsequent legislation. From then, new mining companies were required to be registered with the Office of the Registrar General. As the provisions of the 1871 Act did not apply to companies registered under the previous legislation, pre 1871 registrations of these companies remained valid until the registrations were transferred by the Company to the Registrar General or if the company ceased to exist. Post 1871 registrations are recorded in VPRS 8273.

Recordkeeping SystemEntries in the register were entered in chronological order according to the date of Registration. Many of these registers contain a listing of registered companies within it inside the front cover which refers the user to the relevant page.